


Choices

by HopeofDawn



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Non-Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2468807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeofDawn/pseuds/HopeofDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes when you win, you lose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A flash of actinic power; the wrath of God channeled through superconductors, arcing through the air. Transformers exploding with my betrayal, heaven’s fury coming down. He twists, he leaps, impossibly graceful, dodging the storm, and he’s amazing, even when he’s trying to kill me. He soars--

\--and the lightning comes down--

\--and strikes home--

\--and burns the heart out of me.

_I won._

_I won I won oh god I did it. I won I killed him._

_I killed Spider-Man._

_Oh god._

_I killed Spider-Man_.

He’s on the ground, sprawling, charred. I remember my body; pull together all the disparate electrons of it. I drop to my knees. There is the smell of ozone in the air, of burning plastic and charred meat.

He’s still alive, somehow. Fingers giving small twitches. His costume--the red and the blue--is burned, shredded. I reach out, hook fingers in the remains of the mask. I did this. I killed Spider-Man, and finally I’ll get to see--

He’s a boy.

Just a boy. A teenager, half-grown. Eyes wide, struggling for air.

Staring at me. At his death.

 _Stop it! Stop staring at me!_ The words bubble up in my throat, accusations and betrayals tearing their way out--

“Oh god. Oh god I didn’t mean--”

Spider-Man was my friend. A hero.

And my friend. He’d said so.

I clutch at his hand, feel the fading electric-prickles of his life.

“I’m-- I’m so sorry, I--”

Red fingers close around mine convulsively, gripping hard. Strong enough to bruise blue skin, until I can feel the creaking of bone. _Yes. Break me apart. It’s only fair. I did this, I hurt you._

_I can’t save you._

His fingers squeeze down hard. And then--he smiles. Just a little bit. No matter what anyone says, I know what I saw.

“It’s … okay,” he gasps.

The words bubble over my lips. Like if I say them enough, I can fix this.

_-I’m sorry so sorry oh god I was angry but I didn’t want I’m sorry I never wanted this -_

_I just wanted a friend._

“It’s … o-okay, Max.”

“You--you remembered. My name. I--” I’d almost forgotten it. Buried it underneath the pain and the hate and the betrayal.

“C-course. It’s …” The tiny remaining charge of his life is fading. Running out underneath my fingers, and I don’t know how to give him more. How to help instead of hurt. “It’s …”

“Don’t go!”

_Don’t leave me!_

“I--”

The light behind his eyes dies. I hold on, and watch it go.

Spider-Man is dead.

My friend--

\--is dead, and I--

\--I can’t let him go.

Somewhere infinitely far away, a girl screams.

There are explosions, and laughter, ugly and victorious. Osborn.

He was my friend.

And the lightning rises.


	2. Chapter 2

The girl is screaming. Osborn is laughing. He’s cackling--sickening and mad and he’s going to kill her. Going to kill her like--

Like I--

_You have to help her, Max._

But I-- I can’t feel his grip anymore--but I still can’t let go. Can’t look away from what I’ve done.

_Max. Please. Someone has to help her._

He’s gone--but somehow I can still feel him. Hear him. And he’s right, just like he always is. Because Spider-Man is a hero.

Was a hero.

And I’m not. But--someone has to help her.

I’m surrounded by electricity, my grid, a perfect storm of it. It’s almost harder to maintain a solid form here than it is to let go. So I do.

I slide into the storm. A flicker of thought, and I’m there. Osborn is in front of me, on his glider. Wild-eyed and mad and laughing in the joy of it all, teeth bared like a rabid dog.

“Did you see?” he gloats. Holding her over the edge by a single hand. Her feet kick as she twists, tries to find purchase. Tries to bite and claw, even now. “Oh, it was glorious. The great Spider-Man--Peter was too good to save me. Now he can rot with my father and all the rest!”

“You’re lying!” the girl cries, still defiant. Blond hair flying about her face. She’s young too, pretty and smart. But still so young. She still has faith. Still thinks that love will save her.

That Spider-Man will save her.

_Max. Please._

I know.

“Oh, am I?” Osborn rises higher, glider humming. The suit gives him an unnatural strength, allows him to lift her effortlessly. “Perhaps I am. Let’s test that, shall we?” He lifts her up to eye level. “Empirical evidence, as it were. How far up are we now? Six or seven stories? If I let you go, and I’m lying, then I’m sure Peter will swoop in to save you.” He grins, teeth discolored and gleaming in the fitful light. “Of course, if I’m telling the truth … well, at least you won’t have to worry about it for very long.”

He lets go. Tosses her away, like a discarded bit of trash. She screams as she falls, an instinctive wail, arms and legs flailing, reaching--

I catch her. Turn myself solid, damp down the residual charge on my skin as I snatch her out of the air. She grabs on, clutches at me in fear and relief. “Peter--” Then she sees who is holding her, and the name disappears in a gasp.

I use our remaining momentum, land on the ledge of the bell-tower. Let her down. Let her push away from me with frantic hands.

I know what I look like, after all. I’m no Spider-Man.

_You’re my friend, Max._

“You.” Osborn scowls at me. “What are you DOING?”

“Stopping you.” I flicker upwards, using the wrought iron rails, the metal in the trusses to arc myself to Osborn’s level. He scowls at me, face twisted and ugly.

“Stopping me? There’s no stopping me anymore, my friend. Not now--and it’s all thanks to you. Revel in it!”

Blank eyes stare up at the sky. A young face above the scorched remains of red and blue. A scream of denial rips its way from my throat, lightning crackling from my skin.

“I AM NOT YOUR FRIEND!”

I fling out one hand. Lightning lances outwards, spearing Osborn’s glider, arcing over his battlesuit. He screams, and I feel nothing but savage satisfaction in the sound. Osborn had used me, and I had let him. Let him because I wanted to be free of Ravencroft. To have my revenge. But that does not make him my friend. Not like--

The battle is short. Osborn’s madness cannot shield him from my elemental fury, and his toys--like all things mechanical--are nothing against the lightning. I overload the circuits, fry them from the inside out. Osborn screeches, his face a hideous goblin-mask, throwing bombs. As if they would work against someone who moves at the speed of electrons. I hammer him down, and down, until he is out of tricks, out of tech. He stares up at me, afraid. It feels good. He can’t ignore me now. Can’t use me now.

_Max, don’t._

I falter.

_You’re better than this, Max. Remember?_

No. No, I’m not.

_You are. You’re my pal. Don’t do this._

I clamp my hands to my head. “Why are you doing this??”

_Because you’re my friend. Spider-Man would take Osborn to jail. You can too._

“I don’t--”

_I believe in you, Max._

I lift my hand once more, charge arcing from my fingertips. It would be so easy. So easy, and then I would never have to deal with him again. Never have to worry about him again.

But Spider-Man wouldn’t do it. And … so I can’t either. Not anymore.  

I let the lightning go.

I let Osborn live.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally write drabbles, but this particular plot bunny just wouldn't let go. I've been listening to the 'Electro Suite' on repeat, and got to thinking about how alike, in a lot of ways, Peter Parker and Max Dillon really were. Someone had to die before Peter became a hero. Why should young white boys be the only ones given a shot at redemption?
> 
> In case anyone would like the musical reference: http://youtu.be/7zYB1PLjKv0?list=RD7zYB1PLjKv0


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